The present invention relates to a quick-action coupling of a flat design.
Quick-action couplings of a flat design substantially comprise a tube-shaped component to which a cylinder-shaped, protruding component can be connected.
These quick-action couplings are today usually of a flat design, i.e. the ends of the coupling parts to be joined together are completely closed off when the coupling parts are not joined together. Quick-action couplings of a flat design are being used increasingly in the area of hydraulics, thanks to their most important property, which is that leakage losses of the hydraulic oil are avoided when the components of the coupling are connected or taken apart.
This advantageous property has made it possible for quick-action couplings also to be used in the area of agricultural machines or construction machines, since in fact there are no ascertainable leakage losses of the hydraulic fluid during the joining together or taking apart of the coupling parts.
It is to be regarded as one disadvantage of the known quick-action couplings that the connecting or disconnecting from each other cannot be carried out if the individual subassemblies for supplying the hydraulic fluid and the devices to be driven of the various items of equipment are under high operating pressure.
In the case of the known quick-action couplings of the first-mentioned type, at the end of the sleeve-shaped piece of pipe there is usually provided a ring-shaped component, which surrounds the piece of pipe.
The ring-shaped component can be manually displaced each time a separation is desired between the components of the quick-action coupling, by actuating the ring-shaped component to achieve the effect that the known arresting balls carry out a radially outwardly directed movement and enter circumferential grooves of the displaceable, ring-shaped component and after that it is possible for the cylinder-shaped component to be disconnected.
The cited manual actuation of the ring-shaped component represents an additional working step, which cannot always be carried out easily and quickly, in particular whenever the quick-action coupling of a flat design is used for example in combination with an agricultural machine or a construction machine.
It can be regarded as a further disadvantage of the aforementioned quick-action couplings which are already available on the market that the part of the coupling of a sleeve-shaped design is connected to the hydraulic collector of the vehicle with flexible pipelines interposed, and these pipelines are provided between the collector and each sleeve-shaped component of the quick-action coupling.
The connecting between the said components using flexible pipelines leads to technical difficulties, however, since these pipelines have proven to be extremely troublesome and have to be fastened to the vehicle in a precisely fixed position; furthermore, it is not possible to rule out the possibility of the connecting lines being damaged, which leads to an undesired escape of the hydraulic fluid.
Under direct tensile loading, there is also the risk of the flexible pipelines tearing or being completely destroyed, with the consequence that the hydraulic fluid escapes from the system of lines.
The object of the present invention is to avoid the disadvantages of the prior art and propose a quick-action connection which makes it possible to disconnect the tube-shaped component and the cylinder-shaped component without entailing the risk of damaging a connecting line and causing the escape of hydraulic fluid.
Furthermore, it is intended for the separation of the components of the quick-action coupling to be possible without manually acting on a displaceable socket, which is equipped with a ring of balls for arresting the joined-together components of the quick-action coupling, and finally it is intended for disconnection of the components of the quick-action coupling or joining together of these components also to be possible under high hydraulic pressure in the pipelines.
The aforementioned objects are achieved by a quick-action coupling of a flat design which comprises a sleeve-shaped component and a cylinder-shaped component, and is characterized in that the radially outer part of the sleeve-shaped component is connected to the front side of a tube-shaped part, and the opposite end of the tube-shaped part is connected to an end socket, which is connected to a collector or a valve body for the hydraulic fluid and, in a chamber bounded by the tube-shaped component, there is provided a valve body which is axially displaceable and has an actuable valve stem, the valve stem being connected to a tube-shaped component which extends in the longitudinal direction and ends in a tube-shaped component which has on its end piece openings which are arranged in the circumferential direction and receive arresting balls in a way known per se.